Newspaper Page Text
2
The Golden Age for September 16, 1909.
PARABLES OE THE KINGDOM: GRE/fr PRZCE
Tabernacle Sermon by Reb. Len G 'Broughton, D. D.
Stenographlcally reported for The Golden Age. —C jyright applied for
Matthew 13: 45-46: “Again, the Kingdom of
Heaven is like unto merchant seeking goodly
pearls; and having so nd one pearl of great price,
he went and sold all th At he had and bought it.”
» «-*
HE parable of the Hidden Treasure
which we £ast considered, and the para
ble of the Vearl of Great Price, are very
similar in tome respects; by many ex
positors they are regarded as one and
the lesson taught is regarded as one.
There is great similarity in the popu
uar interpretation that is given to both
of these parables. In the case of the
parable of the Hidden Treasure the popular inter
pretation is that the hidden treasure represents sal
vation and the man seeking it and finding it and
selling all his possessions to obtain it is the
sinner seeking Christ and finding Him; in the pres
ent parable the popular interpretation is the same.
The Pearl of Great Price according to popular in
terpretation is salvation; the man who finds it and
sells all his possessions is the sinner seeding salva
tion in Christ and finding it. Now, just as we saw
that this popular interpretation of the parable of the
Hidden Treasure is contrary to all the redemptive
scheme of the New Testament, so we find with
reference to this parable; the popular interpretation
is contrary, every -whit, to the great scheme of re
demption that we find here outlined for us in the
New Testament scriptures. It is contrary in the first
place in that it represents the sinner as the seeking
one, when it is a fact that Jesus seeks the sinner
long before the sinner seeks Jesus; if that were not
true there never would be another soul saved on
this earth. Jesus came seeking to save that which
was lost. He came primarily for that purpose, that
He might save men from their sins, and the Holy
Spirit as the representative of the seeking Christ
has first to make His impression upon the human
heart before there is any upturned look on the part
of the sinner.
It is contrary also to the redemptive scheme in
that it represents salvation as a thing to be pur
chased by the sinner; if the pearl of great price is
salvation, and if the man seeking the pearl of great ,
price, and finding if, and selling all that he has, and
buying it, represents the sinner in his effort to be
saved, such a salvation would be a thing to be pur
chased and not a thing of grace and we know that
that is contrary to the redemptive scheme.
THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL.
Now then, what is the significance of this para
ble? Brushing aside everybody’s interpretation and
coming to view it in the light of the scheme of re
demption, what does this pearl of great price rep
resent? As I see it, my friends, it can represent but
one thing, and that is the Church of Jesus Christ on
earth. When I say the church I do not mean at all
to be understood as referring to any system or de
nomination. I do not refer to the Methodists or the
Baptists or the Presbyterians or the Roman Cath
olics or any of these organizations within the one
great Church of Jesus Christ: I refer to the church
as we find it represented in men and women who
believe on Jesus and are saved; to the great w’orld
of redeemed men and women. There are two views
of the church in the Scriptures; when the church is
mentioned it is either the church general as I have
just indicated, the church made up of redeemed
souls through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, world
wide, or else it is the organized local body; and in
the sense that this pearl of great price represents
the cnurch it is not the organized body, it is the
universal church, the church spiritual, the church of
the redeemed, the holy Catholic church as establish
ed by the Holy Spirit.
You will remember in connection with the para
ble of the Hidden Treasure that we held that the
hidden treasure represented the Jews, and the man
who found that treasure was Jesus Himself. When
He found the hidden treasure He hid it away and sold
all that He had; He gave Himself a ransom for the
purchase of that field, that field of humanity in which
Israel was hid, so that Israel was bought by
Jesus by His death on the cross; He purchased the
great world field of humanity which incorporated
within its scope the Jew.
Up until the present day there has not been a sin
gle reference in all these parables of the Kingdom,
concerning the church. We saw at the outset that
the Kingdom was not synonymous with the Church
as some think; nor the church the Kingdom; that
the Kingdom in its completion is this world of men
and women with Jesus Christ as King. The present
administration of the Spirit is to gather out of the
men and women of the world material with which
and through which and by which our coming King
is to govern His holy Kingdom when He returns to
this earth, and the church is the organization that
binds the men and women together and apart from
the world. Here our Lord is giving us some little
glimpse of the church taking its part in the great
scheme of gathering out those that He would have
saved, that He might prepare them for their respec
tive places in the great world kingdom over which
He is personally to preside when He returns the
second time.
I want us to see how happily, how beautifully the
pearl of great price represents the Church of Jesus
Christ. In the first place, there is a similarity in its
composition. The pearl is not so precious now as in
those olden times. At that time it was regarded as
an exclusive jewel, only worn by the members of
the royal family; no one else was allowed to adorn
himself with a pearl. It was regarded for various rea
sons as perhaps the most exclusive and most pre
cious of jewels. The pearl is unlike every jewel and
every other gem. If you will study the chemistry of
jewels you will find that the pearl stands out as the
one unique gem of them all. Every other jewel, nev
er mind of what character it is, is an inorganic com
pound. The diamond, emerald, topaz and all other
precious stones are inorganic. There has been no
involvement of life in the formation of these jewels.
Life has had no part whatever in their formation.
Not so with the pearl; it is an organic composition
in that life is involved in its formation. Chemists
tell us that the pearl is simply composed of carbon
ate of lime. In its chemical analysis it is exactly
like that of a common piece of chalk with which we
write upon the black board. It stimulates the chalk
like common charcoal, as the graphite of the pencil
does the diamond. That piece of graphite is identical
in every whit in its chemical composition, in the ele
ments that go to make it up, with the diamond.
How it is, what brings about the difference nobody is
able to understand. The same thing is true of pearls
and chalk. They are both simply carbonate of lime
and yet nobody is able to understand how it is that
one is practically worthless and the other is so in
finitely valuable, but it is nevertheless true. It is
true also that in the formation of this jewel there is
involved suffering and so in this particular the pearl
of great price represents the Church of Jesus.
The church is not made up of a stated, settled
lot of creeds and forms and documents; that is not
the church; nor is it to be considered as the place
where we might worship; the house in which we wor
ship is in no sense to be considered as the Church
of Jesus Christ; it is simply a place set apart for the
church to assemble and carry on its work for God.
None of these things make up the church. The
Church as represented by the pearl of great price is
the great body of redeemed men and women for
whose salvation there has been poured the sacrifice
of life of the Son of God.
THE RESULT OF SUFFERING.
Have you ever studied the formation of pearls?
You understand perhaps some of you that they come
mostly from the oyster and from the clam and some
times from the common mussels that we find in the
branches and the small streams. What is 'the ex
planation of tne beautiful pearl found in the oyster
shell? Scientists tell us that the pearl is the result
of continued suffering and agony on tne part of the
little creature that lives within that shell. It was
once thought that the presence of the pearl in the
oyster shell indicated health and zigor; but long
since, science has demonstrated that that is not
true, that the pearl in the oyster shell indicates the
exact reverse; that it Indicates constant, moment by
moment, day by day, week by week, suffering and
agony. The pearl has its beginning in the formation
of an irritation which is usually produced by the ad
mission through some crack or crevice that is made
in the shell, of some foreign substance, most gener
ally a tiny bit of sand. This foreign substance find
ing its way sets up an irritation; that irritation caus
es the oyster to bleed. This life supporting fluid is
drawn out, bit by bit; layer by layer it hardens, and
the little suffering creature gives his life blood for
the formation of his pearl. The brilliancy of every
pearl has its beginning in the constant suffering of
the little creature by whom it is formed. How beau
tifully this represents the church of Jesus Christ!
Do you want a fit picture explanation of the way
in which the church is formed? Read the 53rd
chapter of Isaiah. “He was wounde 1 for our
transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the chas
tisement of our stripes were laid upon him.” Oh, my
friends, when I begin to think of the suffering that
was necessary for the formation of the Church I feel
that I am totally unfit and unable and unworthy to
attempt to expound this truth. Oh, the suffering!
Yonder upon Calvary Jesus our Lord, innocent, is
suffering for our redemption; and the foreign sub
stance that is goading Him and stealing His life
blood is nothing more nor less than our sin, for
eign to Him, for He knew no sin. He came with
out sin or defilement in body or soul or spirit and
yet this foreign substance, the world’s sin, your sin
and my sin, must be thrown on Him; and around
it, and over it he poured the blood of His life
in great soul agony, that He might polish, per
fect the Church, His pearl of great price. No won
der Jesus Christ is so careful of His Church. We ~
all love that which costs us most. We are all
inclined to stand by that which we suffer for
most. We are all ready to fight for the thing dearest
to our heart. A man will fight for his country, for
his home, because it lies nearest and dearest to his
heart.
So with the Church. When Jesus came to the
hidden treasure His own precious Israel, and was re
jected, He hid it away for the period of the Gentiles,
the period of the Church; then He went to work to
seek out His people, another people. When at
last the Church, the pearl of great price, was formed,
His pearl of great price over which He had suffered,
for which He had died and poured out His heart’s
blood, no wonder He became proud of it and has
watched it and polished it by means of His Spirit;
and I tell you today, brethren, I strike an optimistic
note; I tell you, a pearl that has cost the Son of
God such everlasting and perpetual suffering and
agony of soul and heart and body will not come to
defeat; the day dawn is coming sometime when
this pearl has been polished, as He is today polish
in it; when the last stroke of the polishing hand of
Jesus has been given to His pearl then she is go
ing to shine forth in all her originally intended
beauty, and not until then need we expect it.
THE CHURCH’S MISSION.
Again, let me say that this pearl of great price rep
resents the church in the use that is made of it. Os
course, the pearl with us is used simply for ornamen
tation, but it was not so in the days of our Lord.
In those days the pearl was looked upon as a means
of healing; it was supposed to have a charm for the
healing of sorrow and bereavement; there was a
kind of mysticism, a kind of magic that was supposed
to drive away the spirits of sorrow and gloom; and
so it came to be looked on as an emblem of peace
or joy. When there was seen a pearl it was regard
ed as a sign that sorrow and gloom had been dis
pelled. It was frequently used after war and great
periods of conflict and struggle between different
nations and individuals, when the smoke of battle
had entirely passed away; how fitly this represents
the Church of Jesus; oh, what has it meant to the
world as a healing for its sorrows and for its suffer-
